In 1170, King Henry
pronounced your Somerset curdle yummy,
sharply praising your town’s gifted gentry
who mixed raw milk, rennet from calves’ tummies,
wrapping the coagulate in cloth, then
aging loaves in caves, like mankind itself.
But we’ve seen British tradition grow thin
in the States. Cheddar makers seeking pelf
now rely on genetics and fungus
Aspergillus niger, saving young cows.
Animal lovers dub that humongous
humaneness, or less bloody anyhow.
Vegetarian cheese chompers prefer
fig tree bark or an evergreen creeper.
Roger Armbrust
August 19, 2007
